Automatic Authorization of Programmatic Transactions

1. A computer-implemented method for a third-party transaction authorizer to automatically authorize programmatic transactions between parties, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a programmatic transaction between at least first and second parties that includes the second party providing a requested service to the first party and an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party for the service, the first and second parties distinct from the third-party transaction authorizer; receiving indications of a first reference token of the first party and a second reference token of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction; retrieving a first predefined payment instruction rule set for the first party that is associated with the first token and a second predefined payment instruction rule set for the second party that is associated with the second token, the first reference token being one of the multiple distinct reference tokens of the first party that are each associated with one of multiple distinct payment instruction rule sets of the first party; automatically, under control of one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible so as to authorize the programmatic transaction; and after the first and second payment instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, providing the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party, so as to facilitate provision of the service to the first party from the second party.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction includes invocation of at least one Web service of the second party by an application program that is provided by the first party to a distinct end-user and that is being executed by the end-user, the at least one Web service being provided by the second party for a fee.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible further includes determining whether the first and second payment instruction rules sets are compatible with a third payment instruction rule set for the end-user that is retrieved based on a third reference token of the end-user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction includes invocation of at least one Web service of the second party by an application program that is provided by another party to the first party and that is being executed by the first party, the at least one Web service being provided by the second party for a fee.

5. The method of claim 1 including, before the receiving of the indication of the transaction, defining the first payment instruction rule set in response to one or more instructions received from the first party and defining the second payment instruction rule set in response to one or more instructions received from the second party.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the defining of the first payment instruction rule set includes generating the first token and associating the first token with the first payment instruction rule set, and wherein the defining of the second payment instruction rule set includes generating the second token and associating the second token with the second payment instruction rule set.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the tokens are generated so as to be anonymous such that the second party cannot obtain information about the first payment instruction rule set from the first token and such that the first party cannot obtain information about the second payment instruction rule set from the second token.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the tokens are generated so as to be anonymous such that the second party cannot obtain information about the first party from the first token and such that the first party cannot obtain information about the second party from the second token.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein, for each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets, the received instructions for the payment instruction rule set include indications of multiple predefined types of usage conditions and of one or more corresponding user-specified values for each of the usage conditions that affects satisfaction of the usage condition, and wherein the defining of each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets includes creating a rule for the payment instruction rule set for each of the indicated predefined usage condition types and corresponding user-specified values.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein, for each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets, the received instructions for the payment instruction rule set include indications of one or more rules that each have a user-specified procedure for determining whether the rule is satisfied, and wherein the defining of each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets includes creating each of the indicated rules.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein, for each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets, the instructions for the payment instruction rule set are received based on invocation of one or more Web services provided by the transaction authorizer.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indications of the transaction and of the first and second reference tokens are based on invocation of one or more Web services provided by the transaction authorizer.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible is further to determine whether the first and second payment instruction rule sets authorize the associated financial payment for the programmatic transaction.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible is further to determine whether the first and second payment instruction rule sets authorize transactions between the first and second parties.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible is further to determine whether each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets is valid under current conditions.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible further includes interactively obtaining information from the first party and/or the second party in accordance with information specified in the first and/or second payment instruction rule sets.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second payment instruction rule sets each include multiple rules that each specify criteria for determining whether the payment instruction rule set authorizes a transaction.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the determining that the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible includes determining that each of the rules of each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets is satisfied for the transaction.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the determining that a rule of one of the first and second payment instruction rule sets is satisfied includes determining that the rule is satisfied by one or more of the other payment instruction rule set, the party that provided the other payment instruction rule set, and information about the transaction.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein each of the payment instruction rule sets further includes one or more rules regulating types of transactions that the payment instruction rule set can authorize, one or more rules regulating post-transaction modification conditions that the payment instruction rule set can authorize, one or more rules regulating types of payment to be received or provided that the payment instruction rule set can authorize, and one or more rules regulating types of parties with whom the payment instruction rule set can authorize to conduct transactions.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second parties each further has one or more usage instruction rule sets that each includes multiple rules regulating whether to provide to and/or receive from another party access to information as part of a potential transaction.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second parties each has an account with the transaction authorizer with which their payment instruction rule sets are associated, and wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party involves using the account of the first party as a payment instrument for the financial payment and using the account of the second party as a payment repository for the financial payment.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party includes restricting access of the second party to at least some of the associated financial payment for a specified period of time in order to provide for a refund of at least some of the associated financial payment to the first party.

24. The method of claim 1 including providing a guarantee functionality related to the associated financial payment such that the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party gives immediate access to the associated financial payment to the second party and such that a provider of the guarantee functionality ensures that any refunds to the first party of at least some of the associated financial payment are available.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicated transaction further includes a third party and one or more additional associated financial payments that are each by one of the first, second and third parties and are each to a distinct one or more of the first, second and third parties and the transaction authorizer, and including providing each of the additional associated financial payments when one or more corresponding payment instruction rule sets authorize that additional payment.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the third party is an end-user executing an application program that invokes the programmatic service of the second party as part of the transaction, and wherein at least one of the additional associated financial payments is from the third party to the second party and/or to the transaction authorizer.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second payment instruction rules sets are determined to be compatible and specify a dispute resolution policy for the transaction, and including, after the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party, enforcing the specified dispute resolution policy in response to an indication from at least one of the first and second parties.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party includes obtaining the financial payment from the first party.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets are XML documents.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the service by the second party to the first party is completed before the receiving of the indication of the transaction.

31. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party is performed before the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party is performed after the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party is performed substantially concurrent with the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party.

34. The method of claim 1 wherein the received indication of the first reference token of the first party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction is based on selection by the first party of the first reference token from the multiple reference tokens so as to reflect a selection by the first party to use the distinct payment instruction rule set associated with the first reference token for authorizing the programmatic transaction.

35. A computer-implemented method for a third-party transaction authorizer to automatically authorize programmatic transactions between parties, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a programmatic transaction between at least first and second parties that includes the second party providing a requested service to the first party and an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party for the service, the first and second parties distinct from the third-party transaction authorizer; receiving indications of a first reference token of the first party and a second reference token of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the associated financial payment for the programmatic transaction, wherein the first party has multiple distinct payment instruction rule sets that have multiple distinct associated reference tokens, the first reference token being one of the multiple associated reference tokens; retrieving a first predefined payment instruction rule set for the first party that is associated with the first token and a second predefined payment instruction rule set for the second party that is associated with the second token; automatically, under control of one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible so as to authorize the associated financial payment from the first party to the second party; after the first and second payment instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, providing the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party, so as to facilitate provision of the service to the first party from the second party; receiving an indication of a second transaction between at least the first party and another party and of an indication of a third reference token of the first party that the first party has selected for use in determining whether to authorize a second associated financial payment for the second transaction from the first party to the another party, the third reference token being one of the multiple associated reference tokens and being distinct from the first reference token; and automatically, under the control of at least one of the one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether to authorize the second associated financial payment from the first party to the another party based in part on the payment instruction rule set of the first party that is associated with the third reference token, the payment instruction rule set of the first party associated with the third reference token being distinct from the payment instruction rule set of the first party associated with the first reference token, so that the first party may select distinct payment instruction rule sets for use with distinct transactions by indicating the reference token associated with a selected payment instruction rule set.

36. A computer-readable medium whose contents include instructions that when executed cause a transaction authorization computing system to automatically authorize transactions between parties, by performing a method comprising: receiving an indication of a transaction between distinct first and second parties that includes providing one or more services; receiving indications of a first reference for the first party and a second reference for the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the transaction, wherein the first party has multiple distinct references that each are associated with a distinct usage instruction rule set of the first party, the first reference being one of the multiple distinct references; automatically, under control of one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether a first predefined usage instruction rule set associated with the first reference is compatible with a second predefined usage instruction rule set associated with the second reference in such a manner as to authorize the transaction; when the first and second usage instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, providing an indication that the transaction is authorized; receiving an indication of a second transaction between at least the first party and another party and of an indication of a third reference of the first party that the first party has selected for use in determining whether to authorize the second transaction from the first party to the another party, the third reference being one of the multiple distinct references and being distinct from the first reference; and automatically, under control of one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether the usage instruction rule set of the first party that is associated with the third reference is compatible with a usage instruction rule set for the another party, the usage instruction rule set of the first party associated with the third reference being distinct from the usage instruction rule set of the first party associated with the first reference, so that the first party may select distinct usage instruction rule sets for use with distinct transactions by indicating the reference associated with a selected usage instruction rule set.

37. A computer-readable medium whose contents include instructions that when executed cause a computing system to automatically authorize programmatic transactions between parties, by performing a method comprising: receiving an indication of a programmatic transaction between at least first and second parties that includes the second party providing a requested service to the first party and an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party for the service, the first and second parties being distinct from a third-party transaction authorizer; receiving indications of a first reference token of the first party and a second reference token of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction; retrieving a first predefined payment instruction rule set for the first party that is associated with the first token and a second predefined payment instruction rule set for the second party that is associated with the second token, the first reference token being one of the multiple distinct reference tokens of the first party that are each associated with one of multiple distinct payment instruction rule sets of the first party; automatically, under control of one or more programmed computing systems, determining whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible so as to authorize the programmatic transaction; and after the first and second payment instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, providing the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the transaction includes invocation of at least one Web service of the second party by an application program that is provided by the first party to a distinct end-user and that is being executed by the end-user, the at least one Web service being provided by the second party for a fee.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible further includes determining whether the first and second payment instruction rules sets are compatible with a third payment instruction rule set for the end-user.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the method further comprises, before the receiving of the indication of the transaction, defining the first payment instruction rule set in response to one or more instructions received from the first party.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40 wherein the method further comprises, before the receiving of the indication of the transaction, defining the second payment instruction rule set in response to one or more instructions received from the second party, wherein the defining of the first payment instruction rule set includes generating the first token and associating the first token with the first payment instruction rule set, and wherein the first token is generated so as to be anonymous such that the second party cannot obtain information from the first token about at least one of the first payment instruction rule set and the first party.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the computing system is operated on behalf of the transaction authorizer, and wherein the receiving of the indications of the transaction and of the first and second reference tokens are based on invocation of one or more Web services provided by the transaction authorizer.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible includes determining that the first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible if the first and second payment instruction rule sets authorize the associated financial payment for the programmatic transaction.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible further includes at least one of determining whether the first and second payment instruction rule sets authorize transactions between the first and second parties, of determining whether each of the first and second payment instruction rule sets is valid under current conditions, of interactively obtaining information from the first party and/or the second party in accordance with information specified in the first and/or second payment instruction rule sets, and of determining that each of multiple rules in at least one of the first and second payment instruction rule sets is satisfied for the transaction based on one or more of the other payment instruction rule set, the party that provided the other payment instruction rule set, and information about the transaction.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein at least one of the first and second payment instruction rule sets further includes one or more rules regulating types of transactions that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, one or more rules regulating post-transaction modification conditions that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, one or more rules regulating types of payment to be received or provided that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, and one or more rules regulating types of parties with whom the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize conducting transactions.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party is completed before the receiving of the indication of the transaction.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party is performed after the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the received indication of the first reference token of the first party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction is based on selection by the first party of the first reference token from the multiple reference tokens, so as to reflect a selection by the first party to use the distinct payment instruction rule set associated with the first reference token for authorizing the programmatic transaction.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing system, and wherein the contents include one or more data structures for use in automatically authorizing programmatic transactions between parties, the data structure comprising a multiplicity of entries, each entry corresponding to a payment instruction rule set associated with a party and containing an indication of a unique associated reference token for that payment instruction rule set.

50. A computing device, comprising: one or more processors; a transaction validater component that is programmed to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, receive an indication of a programmatic transaction between at least first and second parties that includes the second party providing a requested service to the first party and an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party for the service, the first and second parties being distinct from a third-party transaction authorizer; receive indications of a first reference token of the first party and a second reference token of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction; retrieve a first predefined payment instruction rule set for the first party that is associated with the first token and a second predefined payment instruction rule set for the second party that is associated with the second token, the first reference token being one of the multiple distinct reference tokens of the first party that are each associated with one of multiple distinct payment instruction rule sets of the first party; and automatically determine whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible so as to authorize the programmatic transaction; and a transaction handler component that is programmed to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and after the first and second payment instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, provide the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party, so as to facilitate provision of the service to the first party from the second party.

51. The computing device of claim 50 wherein the transaction includes invocation of at least one Web service of the second party by an application program that is provided by the first party to a distinct end-user and that is being executed by the end-user, the at least one Web service being provided by the second party for a fee, and wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible further includes determining whether the first and second payment instruction rules sets are compatible with a third payment instruction rule set for the end-user.

52. The computing device of claim 50 further comprising an account manager component programmed to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, and before the receiving of the indication of the transaction, define the first payment instruction rule set in response to one or more instructions received from the first party, the defining of the first payment instruction rule set including generating the first token and associating the first token with the first payment instruction rule set.

53. The computing device of claim 50 wherein the determining of whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible includes determining that the first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible if the first and second payment instruction rule sets authorize the associated financial payment for the programmatic transaction.

54. The computing device of claim 50 wherein at least one of the first and second payment instruction rule sets further includes one or more rules regulating types of transactions that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, one or more rules regulating post-transaction modification conditions that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, one or more rules regulating types of payment to be received or provided that the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize, and one or more rules regulating types of parties with whom the payment instruction rule set is able to authorize conducting transactions.

55. The computing device of claim 50 wherein the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party is completed before the receiving of the indication of the transaction, and wherein the providing of the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party is performed after the providing of the requested service by the second party to the first party.

56. The computing device of claim 50 wherein the transaction validater component and the transaction handler component each includes software instructions, for execution in one or more memories of the computing device.

57. The computing device of claim 50 wherein the transaction validater component consists of a means for: receiving an indication of a programmatic transaction between at least first and second parties that includes the second party providing a requested service to the first party and an associated financial payment from the first party to the second party for the service, the first and second parties distinct from the third-party transaction authorizer; receiving indications of a first reference token of the first party and a second reference token of the second party for use in determining whether to authorize the programmatic transaction; retrieving a first predefined payment instruction rule set for the first party that is associated with the first token and a second predefined payment instruction rule set for the second party that is associated with the second token, the first reference token being one of the multiple distinct reference tokens of the first party that are each associated with one of multiple distinct payment instruction rule sets of the first party; and automatically determining whether the retrieved first and second payment instruction rule sets are compatible so as to authorize the programmatic transaction; and wherein the transaction handler component consists of a means for, after the first and second payment instruction rule sets are determined to be compatible, providing the associated financial payment to the second party on behalf of the first party.